


Shackled In My Embrace

by moodlighting



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Established Relationship, Handcuffs, In Media Res, Kissing, M/M, Mission Fic, Podfic Available, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:49:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25703101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moodlighting/pseuds/moodlighting
Summary: Nicky reached up to stroke a thumb across Joe’s cheek, one handcuffed hand following the other. “Hello again,” he murmured, smiling softly. “I do hope there is a Plan B to this operation.”Joe returned his grin—Nicky could feel the crooked upturn of his lips against his fingers. “I think we are now somewhere in the vicinity of Plan G,” Joe replied, unconcerned.Sometimes, getting captured is actually part of the plan.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 24
Kudos: 601





	Shackled In My Embrace

Nicky had very nearly been asleep when the door to the catacombs opened with another violent screech, the quiet of the damp and dripping darkness fracturing as the heavy iron fought against its own rusted hinges. Nicky sighed longingly, a sound of great melancholy and despair as all hopes of sleeping through the rest of his imprisonment vanished into the mildewy air of his cell. 

Lifting his head from the cool, ancient stones against his back, Nicky opened his eyes to the displeasing sight of his captors—incongruous in this beautiful place, with their automatic weapons and ill-fitting body armor—rounding the narrow corner of the passageway. Grasped tightly between two of their burliest men was Joe, who was dressed, inexplicably, as a hotel concierge.

“Ah, my heart!” Joe announced cheerfully when he spotted Nicky. “How wonderful to see you again. I missed you!”

Nicky smiled, the rigid spring of tension in his spine slowly uncoiling at the sound of Joe’s voice. 

“I take it the mission went well?” he called out to him in return, sinking back comfortably against the stone bench.

“Oh, this?” Joe continued, in the same casual tone. He raised his arms to display the handcuffs tight around his wrists. “I just thought I’d drop in for a visit. You know how I hate it when we’re apart.”

“Shut the fuck up,” one of the guards growled at him. They’d arrived at the entrance to Nicky’s cell now. “You—hands where I can see them,” he shouted at Nicky.

Nicky, slouched against the far wall, raised his own cuffed hands obediently. A second guard pulled out a comically large ring of old, rusted keys and unlocked the door, swinging it open with another sharp creak. With a final shove, they sent Joe stumbling into the cell next to Nicky.

Nicky reached out to brace his fall, catching Joe clumsily by the upper arms. The guards slammed the iron bars closed behind him. Nicky carefully turned Joe in place and guided him to sit down on the bench next to him. 

Joe settled in with a huff. “ _Bastardi…_ ” he glared at the retreating backs of the guards.

Nicky nodded. “They are very rude,” he agreed.

With another echoing screech from further down the passageway, the heavy door to the catacombs swung shut, leaving them alone, together with the darkness and the mold.

Nicky reached up to stroke a thumb across Joe’s cheek, one handcuffed hand following the other. “Hello again,” he murmured, smiling softly. “I do hope there is a Plan B to this operation.”

Joe returned his grin—Nicky could feel the crooked upturn of his lips against his fingers. “I think we are now somewhere in the vicinity of Plan G,” Joe replied, unconcerned. 

“Booker?” Nicky asked.

“Working on it.”

Unable to resist the tempting nearness of their bodies any longer, Joe was the first to lean in, closing the remaining distance between them to press a simple kiss to Nicky’s mouth, a quiet greeting, familiar and long-cherished.

Smiles graced both of their lips as they parted. Lifting his hands, Nicky reached up and plucked the concierge’s fez from where it sat crookedly atop Joe’s head. He happily discarded it on the dirty floor.

“I look forward to hearing the story about this disguise,” Nicky said, combing his fingers gently through Joe’s flattened curls until they were left artlessly tousled.

Joe frowned. “You don’t find me handsome in my uniform?” he said. 

Nicky just laughed, tracing his hand down to cup Joe’s cheek in his palm once more. He adored this man. “I do not believe that was ever in doubt.”

Joe laughed too. He clasped his fingers loosely around Nicky’s wrist, where the metal cuff had dropped lower on his arm, keeping the warmth of Nicky’s touch in place. “I’m sure Andy will happily regale you with the tale. It was her idea, of course.”

“Naturally.”

“She also has Quynh and Nile in position to pull a Berlin.”

Nicky felt his eyebrows raise in surprise. It had been some time since he last thought about Berlin. “Oh?” he said, intrigued. “East or West?”

“...West.”

“ _Ahh._ ” Nicky smiled fondly at the memory as it returned to him. “That will be very fun for Nile.”

“She was excited,” Joe agreed with a chuckle.

For a long moment, they simply sat quietly at each other’s side, enveloped in the resonating silence of the catacombs as they breathed in the comfort of one another’s presence. Then, turning slowly in place, Nicky raised his eyes to meet Joe’s, unfaltering even in the darkness. “So, what exactly are we supposed to do here until then?”

“Well,” Joe replied. “Boss wasn’t entirely forthcoming with all the details. Though I have some ideas myself.”

Nicky grinned, pleased and knowing; this was far from the first time they’d found themselves handcuffed and alone.

He lowered his head so Joe could loop his cuffed hands around his neck, letting the weight of his arms settle atop Nicky’s shoulders. One hand came to rest warmly at the base of his neck while the other found its way into his hair, fingers curling into the length of it, nails scraping invitingly at Nicky’s scalp. It wasn’t the damp chill that made Nicky shiver this time.

“Come here,” was all Joe said before bringing their mouths together once more.

The chain between his cuffs provided just enough slack for Nicky to cup Joe’s face in both of his hands, holding him close. Their lips parted together reverently, perfect and warm and true, like every other kiss that had come before it.

Joe stroked tenderly at the back of Nicky’s head as their kisses deepened; Nicky returned each one with an eagerness and devotion not even a second millennia could diminish.

Their captors were foolish to have placed them together in the same cell. They would be out of their handcuffs and on the other side of their iron cage soon enough. But until then, there was this.

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from “Latch” by Disclosure & Sam Smith. Thanks for reading! <3
> 
> [fic post](https://mooodlighting.tumblr.com/post/625492697643450368/shackled-in-my-embrace) | [my writing blog](https://mooodlighting.tumblr.com)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] Shackled In My Embrace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26955400) by [hnghh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hnghh/pseuds/hnghh)




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